


I Shall But Love Thee Better After Death

by thisbluespirit



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: 500 prompts, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Hinted at Time War, Obvious poetry quotes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 19:56:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14268396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisbluespirit/pseuds/thisbluespirit
Summary: “I’ve missed five and a half council meetings by now,” said Romana.  “Possibly also an entire conference.  I am rather busy and important.”The President takes a moment away from everything with a Renegade.





	I Shall But Love Thee Better After Death

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Maggadin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maggadin/gifts).



> Written for Maggadin in the [500 Prompts Meme](http://lost-spook.dreamwidth.org/291842.html): 448 – I love you more than I should ; So much more than is good for me – Eight/Romana II

“Five and a half,” murmured Romana, staring up at a blue sky. There was no such thing as a burnt orange sky on the Doctor’s favourite planet. It made a nice change.

“Hmm?”

“I’ve missed five and a half council meetings by now,” said Romana. “Possibly also an entire conference. I am rather busy and important.”

“A conference _and_ five and a half council meetings?”

“Doctor, we _are_ Time Lords. Being in two places at once is something of a speciality.”

He sat up, grinning at her. “My point exactly! I can get you back in time for at least two of them, so there’s no need to worry.”

“Only two?”

“Five and a half meetings _and_ a conference in one morning is ridiculous,” said the Doctor. “More than double the recommended daily intake for anyone, even be she Lady President. Besides, as I said, it was about time you stopped to smell the roses and walk in the dust.”

Romana raised one eyebrow. “Was _that_ what we were doing? How funny that we happened to arrive at the same time as that party of Sneed turned up to wreck the rose garden. There was plenty of dust, but as I recall, we ran through it rather than walked.” They had also during the brief-lived excitement managed to smell the dust and walk through the fallen roses.

“The old girl is a little unreliable on the precise timing. But afterwards –”

“Hmm, yes. Afterwards _was_ pretty splendid. I suppose I should know by now that at least one alien invasion is obligatory with you.”

They were lying on the grass in what remained of what had been a beautiful rose garden at the back of a terribly quaint old English cottage, a dusty lane winding past, so it would have been an impressively literal metaphor if it hadn’t been for the Sneed, who had taken against the roses as a hostile life form. Romana was willing to grant the Doctor points for effort. She appreciated it; he had always been so slapdash. She debated with herself whether or not it was the first time she had been made love to in a metaphor and thought it probably was, or at least, if it wasn’t, she hadn’t noticed on the other occasions and she was an observant sort of person. 

“You know,” she said, seeing that the Doctor had fallen uncharacteristically silent, “I got the impression it wasn’t really the roses you were so keen on.”

“Naturally, you are pretty splendid yourself.”

“Thank you,” said Romana. “But charming as this has been, dare I ask why?”

“Up there in your gleaming towers, making decisions about the War – it could be so easy to forget how it is down on the ground. You know how it is.”

“I might be consigning all the roses to perdition without second thought?”

“You make me sound so obvious.”

“Oh, _Doctor_.” Romana closed her eyes. She didn’t forget. She didn’t ever forget, and she didn’t need a sunset-pink rose that the Doctor had given her earlier to remind her. It would be easier if she could cease to care, but she suspected that the Doctor was right; it would not be better for the universe. She had already learned too many lessons from him and from travelling the cosmos. The rest of the High Council would disagree. They would be shocked to think that she could escape five and a half meetings and a vital conference just to spend time with a renegade. Romana tightened her hand around the rose, letting its thorn pierce her thumb and a bead of blood run onto a leaf. That was probably a metaphor too, she thought, idly; as were her discarded ceremonial robes and collar abandoned on the rustic bench a yard or two away. 

He shouldn’t turn to her, either. He could be fighting Gallifrey even now, and most likely he _was_ sometimes, when he wasn’t stopping troll-like aliens from damaging the local flora, but he trusted her. Too much? She couldn’t always stop the whole Council, even if she could manage most of them most of the time.

“Have you a sixth meeting you need to rush off to, or may we continue with our romantic interlude?”

Romana considered, because, as a matter of fact, she had a sixth and a seventh meeting she had to get to, but they _were_ Time Lords. She could still attend all the meetings twice, if she wanted. Although that possibly might be silly, and maybe even ostentatious, so she wouldn’t. Probably. “I don’t mind.”

“Good,” said the Doctor, and, slipping his hand into hers, added, “ _How do I love thee? Let me count the ways._ ”

“Honestly, Doctor. You can be terribly clichéd, you know. I bet you don’t even know the next line.”

“I’ll have you know I wrote it out in neat for Elizabeth – she nearly couldn’t make out her own handwriting after the inspiration had passed, so I offered to do the job for her.”

“Of course you did,” said Romana. “But _do_ you?”

“And poetry and roses – the very stuff that life is made on!”

“The Daleks don’t seem to think so.” Romana knew that most of the High Council would probably agree with the Daleks. But only most of them. Half of them, possibly.

“My point precisely.”

“Touché.”

“And,” said the Doctor, kissing her forehead, “ _I love thee to the depth and breadth and height, My soul can reach_ etcetera etcetera. So there.”

“I don’t recall that last part going quite like that.”

They turned their heads at the same moment and exchanged a smile, enjoying their moment while it lasted.


End file.
